On the rebound: Kerry’s winning football is ahead of the game

Defence may be in vogue but the Kingdom showed that skill and attack reap most reward — whoever wins today’s semi-final have been warned

B
ack at the beginning of the championship, Colm O’Rourke floated a curious line in the Sunday Independent when talking about Donegal, suggesting that if the defensive tactics employed by them drew mass appeal and were followed to their natural conclusion, five points might be enough to win the 2020 All-Ireland final.

It’s easy to see what he means. Donegal have come from the next parish to nowhere to win an Ulster title and make an All-Ireland semi-final, playing a system easily replicated by plenty of other counties. Fitness, as manager Jim McGuinness has pointed out, is easy to get right as long as players are willing to push beyond their limits. Belief would come from the conviction that nobody else could be working this hard.

Natural scoring forwards are scarcer than hen’s teeth in many counties, but the amount of hardworking wing-forwards and backs able to cover miles of ground